Preface -- I. The nineteenth century picture: Editor's introduction -- The American wilderness. Life in the wilderness / A. de Tocqueville - Experiment in homesteading / H. D. Thoreau -- Growing up in Missouri. Mississippi River pilots / M. Twain -- Peddlers / T. E. Moore -- Traveling players / C. Rourke -- Life on an Iowa farm / H. Garland -- Opening up Oklahoma / St. Louis Globe Democrat -- II. The twentieth century picture: Editor's introduction -- American Peasants. Law makers and breakers / C. M Wilson -- When the farms blew away / F. L. Allen -- The way of the farmer. The decline of the small town / M. Lerner -- Political influence of the farm bloc / D. W. Brogan -- The American farmer ...Our first "Hybrid" / R. C. Black -- U. S. Agribusiness and agricultural trends / J. Walsh -- III Shifting patterns in rural areas: Editor's introduction -- The new ruralism: the post-industrial age is upon us / W. N. Ellis -- The keys to homesteading success / G. Logsdon -- J. Nordheimer -- Working the land. Second chance: Fred Ringley / S. Terkel.
